Salvia/Steva

So I was talking to a friend of mine and we started talking about Salvia, and then brought up Stevia. Stevia from what I gather is a natural sweet leaf, often used in replacement of sugar. It's supposed to be an herb, but it seems most places don't have it. Salvia seems banned in a few places and a few countries (South Korea at that). I heard it was good, anyone ever try it? I was searching around on www.iamshaman.com and found some interesting things, anyone ever get into herbs much?

How odd. I'd been reading a bit about stevia lately and stopped by my local health food store yesterday to buy some! (Not for my tea...for the dread evil of the too-strong office Folgers.)

I wasn't too keen on having 'sugar packets' everywhere, so I got a drop formulation. Undiluted, it does have a bit of an anise/licorice aftertaste. Diluted in coffee, however, I don't detect any aftertaste at all...though I've yet to decide if the foretaste is comparable to sugar. It is definitely sweet, though, and I found my first try quite acceptable.

The best part, though, was that I didn't have any crazy side effects from the stevia. With aspartame and saccharin, I get terrible headaches and about 30 min after consumption, I'm starving: never-eaten-in-your-life starving. I don't know why.

I don't believe stevia has any connection to salvia outside a semantic similarity, though. The plants of the Stevia genus (about 150 closely related species) are herbs related to sunflowers and native to Paraguay. Their leaves taste sweet. That's about it. Salvia divinorum, on the other hand, is related to sage and mint and is native to Southern Mexico. It's leaves have psychoactive properties and make you hallucinate--particularly with higher dosages. It is legal in most of the United States.

If it helps, the FDA doesn't allow Stevia to be sold as a sweetner, only as a "dieteary supplement," or something. So you are most likely not going to find it next to the Splenda in your grocery store. We keep it in our Healthy Living department with the the vitamins and what not.

Thanks for the info guys, I'm not 100% sure but I think both are banned here in Korea. I was really looking forward to trying Salvia, but I can't, and I won't even try to ship it in. Guess I will stick to my Honey as a "natural sweetner" for the meantime.

Actually, if you do a bit of googling I think you'll find that stevia is very popular and governmentally approved as a sweetener in Japan, both Koreas, and China. Japan even uses it as the sweetener for their diet Coke.

But as of January, 2005 both Salvia divinorum (and its active chemical derivative were added to South Korea's list of illegal narcotics (along with Amineptin, quazepam and Ketamine). Salvia is also now on the US Navy's list of banned substances. In February, 2004 they released a document (Navy Awareness Training on Salvia Divinorum) that lists the rules and sections that sailors may be disciplined under. The Marines have some special documentation of their own on Salvia, but I don't know if the Army has taken a stance.

Mary R wrote:Actually, if you do a bit of googling I think you'll find that stevia is very popular and governmentally approved as a sweetener in Japan, both Koreas, and China. Japan even uses it as the sweetener for their diet Coke.

But as of January, 2005 both Salvia divinorum (and its active chemical derivative were added to South Korea's list of illegal narcotics (along with Amineptin, quazepam and Ketamine). Salvia is also now on the US Navy's list of banned substances. In February, 2004 they released a document (Navy Awareness Training on Salvia Divinorum) that lists the rules and sections that sailors may be disciplined under. The Marines have some special documentation of their own on Salvia, but I don't know if the Army has taken a stance.

Wow looks like I will never get to try it anytime soon. I'm going to Japan in September, I wonder if they allow it there. I'm in the Air Force, but with the Navy banning it, it won't be long before all the branches follow. So with that being said is Stevia found in liquid form? or as in sugar packet types? I really want to try natural stuff, all that high fructose corn syrup stuff really turns me off. I'm trying to try healthier alternatives. Agave nectar huh? I have to look into those, as long as I can easily get it and it's fairly good and is natural I will try it.

Agave nectar is pretty nice, but health wise it has a similar glucose/fructose balance to high fructose corn syrup. It probably has additional nutrients and such that make it marginally better than HFCS, but the macro health concerns will be the same.

Stevia can be found in a variety of forms. I just got a little bottle of extract to sample, but you can also find a powdered form (sometimes in little packets like Sweet'N Low) or carefully measured tablets which will dissolve in a liquid.

Hmmm... I do grow salvia in my garden but had not ever heard of it as a sweetener. Stevia is pretty good, and is an herb that is much sweeter than sugar but does not affect blood sugar levels - it is especially good for sweetening beverages. I also enjoy maple syrup/sugar/powder as a terrific natural sugar.

hummingbird wrote:Hmmm... I do grow salvia in my garden but had not ever heard of it as a sweetener. Stevia is pretty good, and is an herb that is much sweeter than sugar but does not affect blood sugar levels - it is especially good for sweetening beverages. I also enjoy maple syrup/sugar/powder as a terrific natural sugar.

Sorry Salvia and Stevia are 2 different things, didn't mean to confuse you. I just heard about them, Salvia Info can be found there. Pretty interesting really, but since I can't try it out anytime soon I will look for something else. Stevia looks like something I'd want to try though, I'm all about trying natural stuff. Thanks for the links, anyone else have any good links to herbal/herbs places?

Thanks all for the info, I actually just got my order of Stevia from www.stevia.com. It's pretty good, sort of like a mix between confectioners sugar and splenda. Best of all 4 packets of this stuff has enough fiber in it as a bowl of cereal, they added fiber so it's actually good for you. It's definitely different, but I like it, and basically being rid of all the bad stuff of most sweetners it's great. I love it, and they also have liquid sweetners that are flavored, I may try them after I finish off the 5 boxes I ordered.